Dice
by gigi2
Summary: Take a chance on me and you'll lose. I guarantee it. BlairChuck shipper. In progress...
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: The awesome world of Gossip Girl does not belong to me. I don't care to throw in the Humphreys (maybe a mere mention) or Vanessa in, as they don't really fit in this story. There are no spoilers (to my recollection). I'm completely running inspiration off episode 1x07. So, you should know.

- Blair and Chuck never 'did it'. They just made out in his limo.

- Serena doesn't date Dan. She's the sassy (not stupid) bad girl everyone makes her out to be.

- Blair's birthday hasn't happened yet.

Enjoy!

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"We broke up."

If Chuck Bass hadn't already known the news, he's sure he would've been sorry to hear it. But he's not. Nate Archibald's words echoed in his ears as Chuck tried his best to contain the grin that could break out on his face any minute. Who knew how much joy those words brought him? He probably would've given more hugs in his lifetime, certainly petted more puppies in the park if he had found out sooner. But given the defeated circumstances Nate was in, he decided it was best to suppress the butterflies. _For now_. He didn't know what he was thinking by even entertaining the thought of going after his best friend's ex-girlfriend but when he wanted something or some i one /i , he was warrant to go to the extreme.

He was smitten with Blair Waldorf and wondered what the hell took him so long to see _her_. The chocolate-haired dame's salad name was enough to summon tiny little hammers on his heart and it disgusted and delighted him all at once. If Nate wasn't sitting his emo-ass on his soft pebbled cognac sofa, he would sure squeel like a girl scared-shitless for almost missing her period. While he maintained an indifferent face, Nate indulged himself with the finest top shelf liquor one could ask for in these situations.

"What in the hell am I going to do?" Nate aimlessly stared at his whiskey, swirling around the thick globe of glass. "My parents. School. Blair. Jesus, I don't even know what the hell I was thinking with Blair. I broke up with Blair." This very proclamation made Chuck grip his own glass of whiskey tighter.

"Are you saying you think it was a mistake to break up?"

A small pause inserted itself into the conversation before Nate answered. "I don't know. It's too early to tell." Gulping down the carmel concoction, he slid his glass towards Chuck. "Pour me another. I plan to do some man crying tonight." That was Nathaniel Archibald for you--- an indecisive, walking pity party.

Chuck disregarded their glasses in place of shot glasses, which he pulled from behind the wet bar. He needed to get Nate messed up and messed up quick before he said something stupid. "It's probably for the best man. There will be other girls."

"But there will never be another Blair."

Point taken.

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"Come again?"

"I made out with Chuck."

"_Bass_?"

As soon as the words left her mouth, Blair regrettably and furiously brushed out her curls. If there was any sign of frustration, it was taken out on the rattling of perfume bottles that were strewn on the vanity in front of her. Flaxen beauty Serena Van Der Woodsen propped herself on Blair's bed to throw her BFF a mixed look of amusement and horror into the mirror. Surely she thought Blair was on a good one because never in a million years did she think that would happen. When no answer was returned, Serena prodded on the way best friends do until enough gossip was spilled.

"Don't give me that look S. Stop passing judgement", said Blair, as she pulled her hair into a loose but chic chignon.

Serena smugly raised her eyebrows. "Blair? That's what we do best."

Of course, how could she forget. She was the queen of passing judgement--- it was her middle name. But just because she was a judger didn't mean she didn't have any feelings. And at the moment, a lot of feelings were making her nauseous. Telling your best friend that you made out with Chuck Bass and seeing her blue marbles pop out from their sockets was a sight you'd never want to see again.

Serena remained quiet, contemplating her rebuttal carefully. She would have laughed but that etched deer-caught-in-the-headlights look on Blair's features worried her. Ready to reply, she was immediately cut off by the brunette.

"First off, laugh it off. Secondly, it's never going to happen again. And third, you are not telling anyone about this. I will kick you in the ovaries Van Der Woodsen if this leaves the room."

"Well, in order to keep it one you shouldn't have told me." Oh that Serena, such the comedian.

"Don't get smart. You're not trying out for Miss Universe. So move over you cow, you're rumpling my sheets."

Blair laid down beside Serena and with a nervous laugh, recalled the events of last night--- the fake family pleasantries. Witnessing Nate's father get arrested. Nate breaking her heart. _Again_. Shaking her money maker at Victor Victrola. Purring in the ears of Chuck Bass in the back of his limo.

After a couple moments of silence, Serena grabbed Blair's hand and gave it a comforting squeeze.

"Does Nate know?", Serena curiously queried.

"No."

"Blair..."

"We're not together. I'm free to make out with whoever I want. I don't have to apologize or feel bad for the way I want to make myself feel better."

The blonde smiled wryly. "Could you at least wait for college to slut it up?"

"I'll try." Blair laughed out, a sound uncommon to herself as she could not recall the last time she had one. "I'll try."

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R + R, please :)


	2. Chapter 2

Hugging her coat tight and her Marc Jacobs tote tighter to her petite frame, the band of a ruby ring scorched itself into her left ring finger. She crossed block after block to reach Constance Billard. Pink tinged the apples of her soft porcelain cheeks, unaware of the blush that caught the eyes of male spectators around her. Blair never really stopped to notice that kind of thing, though – she never had a reason to. Contrary to popular belief, she didn't like the limelight. Serena ate it up all the time, maneater that one.

Scrunching the bridge of her nose, she concluded that she was emotionally tired of everything, mainly because she wasn't prepared for the scandalous discoveries that had unfolded in the last couple of weeks. She had tried being patient for Nate, a trait normally absent in her very being since she was naturally self-absorbed. But for Nate, she tried and for awhile, she was successful.

She waited.

And she waited.

She waited long enough as his lap dog only to have him slap her in the face with no doggy treat for good behavior.

If there was one thing Blair couldn't do, it was subtlety. As her soft curls flew wildly in the Autumn air, so did the pure, unadulterated anger of a sixteen year-old scorned. She had been wronged for the umpteenth time, a cycle she was sure would repeat nor not improve itself if she was going to stay with Nate.

Blair never hid her baggage. The drama was always unpacked, too fabulous as the clothes she wore to be hidden in Louis Vuitton suitcases. She wore her baggage just fine, especially when she ran the show.

Little did she know, the show was about to start up again.

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"Are you finished wallowing?"

"What?" Nate was off his wits, exasperated with himself and the hangover he had earned last night.

"I _said_, are you finished wallowing? It's not very becoming of you, gay if you will." Chuck's eyes shot downward to meticulously adjust his pink and green polka-dot bow tie.

Okay, so he was lying to himself. It wasn't any silly girl but for the sake of Nate and curing the hard-on he got every time he was thinking about her, it was easier to trash talk the girl.

"Yeah, I guess. Whatever. You're too damn chipper this morning." Nate adjusted his cashmere scarf, noting that his friend was indeed too happy. He queried where his friend's grin had appeared.

After Chuck let an inebriated Nate cry himself a river to sleep, he locked the shut the door behind him to his bedroom to clear his mind out. He hadn't seen Blair since she last stepped out of his limo and he was pretty sure she was going to go to extreme lengths to avoid him.

Typical.

This piece of information gnawed at him a bit but it did not deter him. While he was easily amused by the shenanigans of a self-absorbed basketcase and a pretty boy with daddy issues, he was also quickly bored to death.

Walking beside one another, both boys rounded the block, entirely too consumed with their own thoughts to realize that they had crashed into another person. As Nate stumbled to the side, Chuck held out his arms to steady the person that collided into them. The glint of a ruby ring caught his eye, blinking animatedly at the slender finger it held on to.

There was that blasted grin again.

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_Of fucking course_.

If she didn't know who that grin belonged to, she might have found it cute. Sexy, even. But not today. _Or any day,_ as she made a mental note. Cooly collecting herself, she tossed her locks back to look Chuck in the face, but not before she shrugged his hands off of her arms. She stepped back a couple of steps before she decided there was enough ample space between them and her personal bubble.

"Well good morning to you, sunshine." Chuck shamelessly eyed Blair head to toe, despite the fact she was shrouded in layers of clothes. It was something he enjoyed about her conservative nature – it left very much to the imagination. Through squinted eyes, Blair returned one of her famous sneers.

"You're too chipper this morning. Lick an ass today?"

"Not yours unfortunately. Funny that you mention my chipperness, Nathaniel here said the same thing."

At first, Nate's name didn't even register. It was if his name had become a completely foreign noun descended upon her vocabulary. It was ironic, funny even, as she had been thinking about him before their current state of dishevelment. Nate, however, looked every bit the perfection of a drunkard at 7 AM. The whole thing was irritating. Her train of thought had been lost by the very person that caused it. She turned slightly, just to politely acknowledge him but was greeted with no 'good mornings' or eye contact.

"Right. Well," quickly trying to remove herself an uncomfortable pause, "watch where you're going next time. I have to go to class." Irritated with herself for explaining the last bit, she walked around Chuck but not without another trajectory voice interrupted in the air.

"I don't love you."

_Well_, that's an appetizer to any conversation.

The statement was out of left field but clearly marked for its recipient. Tiny fists balled to her side as she angrily peered over Chuck's shoulder. _What the hell? _Seriously, Jack Nicholson was right when he told Tom Cruise he couldn't 'handle the truth', because at that very moment, all Blair really wanted to do was lose her mind, since it seemed to be on her checklist every day.

"Pardon me?" Blair not-so-gently pushed Chuck aside and stepped up to Nate, her fiery eyes never leaving his. Of all the times to speak up, he chose the start of the week, let alone in front of his ex-girlfriend's school. He may have thought he was quickly going to become gravely mistaken.

"Do you think a 48-hour overdue answer is going to make me feel better?" She 'pfft' at his proclamation, threatening annoyance on her face. "The first honest thing that you say to me and you profess it over a hangover? What are you, Marisa Cooper?"

"You asked me if I loved you. I just, I just wanted to tell you that I don't. I know it doesn't rectify the situation Blair but I'm trying. Give me that, please?" His face showed no sign of insincerity but it was not void of guilt. He's uncertain if he should have ever opened his mouth but his mind remains optimistic of her answer, which in girl world is often short-lived.

In the distance, Blair could see Serena, Kati, and Isabel walking in her direction. They sweetly smiled at her, waving fanatically with their cell phones, mouths moving but no noise came out and soon afterwards, her vision blurred. She was obsessed with the proclamations of unrequited love, honest words were bitter to her ears. What she was going to do next was probably an awful ex-girlfriendish thing to do but he wanted her to give him something and so with a quick bat of her lashes, she pulled her right arm back, and let her peers witness one of the most glorious scenes in upper-crust, teen-angst history.

"Don't _ever_ say that I didn't give you anything."

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As Serena, Kati, Isabel, and probably the entire population of Constance Billard ushered to Nate's side, Chuck's lips were slightly parted in goofy admiration. The sound of Blair's fist meeting Nate square in the face was a cute overload for him, only deepening his interest in the little minx. He could tell she looked a bit sorry afterwards, though. It wasn't obvious to the naked eye but she was just as startled as everyone else that her reserved self would get so out of control. But the keyword here is 'a bit', like that stray brow or nose hair you forgot to pluck.

Nate sat on the concrete, cupping his surely-broken nose. Serena looked confused, shaking her head at Nate and Blair to figure out the bigger mess they made in their sandbox. Kati and Isabel took crime pictures with their cell phones, soon to make its way on Gossip Girl. How could someone that small leave a mark on a boy twice her size? Chuck was about to idiotically ask Blair if she was okay but only before putting his arms up in defense when the angry brunette barked orders at him.

"Aventine bar. Five o'clock."

He caught a whiff of the Stella perfume she wore as she once again pushed him aside. He liked it, the perfume that is. He liked it on _her. _But it was besides the point. Unlike his friend being mewed upon as a poor kitten, he played smart and decided not to answer back. Without another glance, the sound of patent Jimmy Choos clicked on the pavement and crossed the street.

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R + R. I'll get to some B&C dialogue real soon AND what happened in that burlesque and limo. Lots of snark on its way!


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